The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and 3970X Review: 24 and 32 Cores on 7nm
by Dr. Ian Cutress, Andrei Frumusanu & Gavin Bonshor on November 25, 2019 9:05 AM ESTCPU Performance: Rendering Tests
Rendering is often a key target for processor workloads, lending itself to a professional environment. It comes in different formats as well, from 3D rendering through rasterization, such as games, or by ray tracing, and invokes the ability of the software to manage meshes, textures, collisions, aliasing, physics (in animations), and discarding unnecessary work. Most renderers offer CPU code paths, while a few use GPUs and select environments use FPGAs or dedicated ASICs. For big studios however, CPUs are still the hardware of choice.
All of our benchmark results can also be found in our benchmark engine, Bench.
Corona 1.3: Performance Render
An advanced performance based renderer for software such as 3ds Max and Cinema 4D, the Corona benchmark renders a generated scene as a standard under its 1.3 software version. Normally the GUI implementation of the benchmark shows the scene being built, and allows the user to upload the result as a ‘time to complete’.
We got in contact with the developer who gave us a command line version of the benchmark that does a direct output of results. Rather than reporting time, we report the average number of rays per second across six runs, as the performance scaling of a result per unit time is typically visually easier to understand.
The Corona benchmark website can be found at https://corona-renderer.com/benchmark
Being fully multithreaded, we see the order here follow core counts. That is except for the 32-core 2990WX sitting behind the 24-core 3960X, which goes to show how much extra performance is in the new TR generation.
Blender 2.79b: 3D Creation Suite
A high profile rendering tool, Blender is open-source allowing for massive amounts of configurability, and is used by a number of high-profile animation studios worldwide. The organization recently released a Blender benchmark package, a couple of weeks after we had narrowed our Blender test for our new suite, however their test can take over an hour. For our results, we run one of the sub-tests in that suite through the command line - a standard ‘bmw27’ scene in CPU only mode, and measure the time to complete the render.
Blender can be downloaded at https://www.blender.org/download/
We have new Threadripper records, with the 3970X almost getting to a minute to compute. Intel's nearest takes almost as long, but does only cost half as much. Again, the 3960X puts the 2990WX in its place.
LuxMark v3.1: LuxRender via Different Code Paths
As stated at the top, there are many different ways to process rendering data: CPU, GPU, Accelerator, and others. On top of that, there are many frameworks and APIs in which to program, depending on how the software will be used. LuxMark, a benchmark developed using the LuxRender engine, offers several different scenes and APIs.
In our test, we run the simple ‘Ball’ scene. This scene starts with a rough render and slowly improves the quality over two minutes, giving a final result in what is essentially an average ‘kilorays per second’.
Our LuxMark test again pushes both TR3 processors out in the lead.
POV-Ray 3.7.1: Ray Tracing
The Persistence of Vision ray tracing engine is another well-known benchmarking tool, which was in a state of relative hibernation until AMD released its Zen processors, to which suddenly both Intel and AMD were submitting code to the main branch of the open source project. For our test, we use the built-in benchmark for all-cores, called from the command line.
POV-Ray can be downloaded from http://www.povray.org/
More rendering, more wins for AMD. More losses for the 2990WX, even though on these tests it still beats the 10980XE quite easily.
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jmelgaard - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
They also somehow forgot that AMD has been virtually invisible in the desktop CPU market for the last ~10 years, yet they managed to survive and pull this incredible victory.But for some reason, that would be unthinkable that Intel could turn things around... o.O... Pure idiocracy...
Besides, it doesn't matter if your an AMD or Intel fan, if you don't wan't both to be in the game your a pure moron, the status quo we have seen from Intel the past 10 years is exactly what we will see if they aren't both in the game. They are there to push each other, to the overall benefit for us, the consumers. If Intel really where to go out of business, then AMD would just begin to milk...
It's f****** amazing how dumb some people are...
AMD has the absolute and clear victory this time, if Intel has anything meaningful to respond with in the near future, well only time can tell...
But for now... Lets just praise what AMD has done, cheer for the amazing launch and well earned victory after what can only have been 10 long years of hard work, and hope that Intel returns... Hopefully sooner than AMD did... Or... On the other hand it's been 10 rather cheap years computer wise for me, so... perhaps I should cheer for Intel to take 10 years for a decent knockout punch in the other direction...
DannyH246 - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
Intel will DEFINITELY return and with Jim Keller on board i'm sure in 2-3 years they will return with a vengeance. I do hope however that everyone remembers what we have been saddled with from Intel for the last 10 years...No innovation, crazy pricing, artificial market segmentation, forced new motherboard purchases every year etc etc. In short - Intel have shafted us for years and are only working like crazy now because AMD launched a rocket up their back sides. Lets hope AMD continues innovating & executing as they have been. That's not Fanboyism, its just common sense.lobz - Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - link
What gap in IPC? You think intel's Coffee Lake has a higher IPC than Zen 2? Please get your facts straight before you try to criticize other people's comments.Der Keyser - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
AMD are really doing wonders with their ZEN2 architecture :-)But with the latest pricing of the higher end R7 and R9 and now TR I think they are making a GREAT mistake. They have decided to capitalize on having reached their target of beating Intel on performance. So prices are no longer vastly better than Intel, and we are moving into having AMD/INTEL pricing close enough not to matter to the average consumer.
This is a very short sighted decision as AMD right now has a once in a lifetime opportunity to really kick Intel in the n***. Intel’s production capability and proces node is lagging - as is their architecture. This is the time to set pricing and performance at a level were DELL, HP, LENOVO and so on are unable to ignore or downplay the AMD option because of intel funding - because that is happening now, and will continue when AMD is getting similarly expensive.
Ditch the lower end SKU’s and drop the prices on mid and high-end SKUs with 20 - 30% now and gain what AMD never had before: Market superiority to really establish their name as a household processor brand. Will all know Intel will retaliate within the next two years once their 10 and 7nm comes full online, and once that happens, AMD will once again battle with the “unproven and small player” moniker because they never got REALLY big - Getting rid of that moniker should be their second and REAL goal of this ZEN2 era. This short term money grab with the new pricing is what will keep AMD in the shadows of Intel going forward.
liquid_c - Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - link
This! So much this! I have no brand loyalty but somehow, people either chose to forget all of AMD’s mishaps (fake turbo boosts, pricing during their Athlon days, declaration of MB compatibility with future CPU gens but when time comes, they point fingers at MB vendors, etc.)liquid_c - Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - link
...or they hate Intel that much (no edit button..)Korguz - Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - link
liquid_c looks like you may be used to the way intel does things, have you seen this article :https://www.anandtech.com/show/15137/amd-clarifies...
or this one :
https://www.anandtech.com/show/14873/reaching-for-...
and what about intels TDP ratings on their cpus ?? people harped and criticized amd for the power their cpus used before zen, but, yet, when intel does the same... it seems to be ok ??
or, that just hate amd that much ....
peevee - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
Too bad the test actually relevant to the class of CPUs, namely compilation, is gone.Also looks like some results are old, before OS and BIOS patches for security (Intel) and performance (AMD).
tony p - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
does anyone know can I swap CPU heatsink between Socket TR4 and TR3Slash3 - Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - link
X399 and TRX40 boards use the same physical socket - heatsinks are compatible with all three generations of Threadripper.